“I don’t think that baseball will ever be, in our lifetimes, what it once was.”
— Bob Costas to Tim Russert, during the MLB strike

“He is a very successful automobile dealer. What makes him think he has the abilities to do what he is attempting to do here is beyond my comprehension.”
— Baltimore Orioles owner Peter Angelos, during the MLB strike, on then-MLB acting Commissioner Bud Selig

“I am sure the French want the Louisiana Purchase back, too.”
— Former Chicago Bulls player representative Steve Kerr, acknowledging the improbability that NBA owners would dump the salary cap

“The owners are talking about replacement players. We think it’s a lot easier to have replacement owners. There’s only 26 of them, and they’re not very good at what they do.”
— Hockey agent Rich Winter

1995

“Baseball has a great future because it can’t get any worse. It can only get better.”
— Then-hopeful MLB owner Jerry Colangelo

“I want to find out who this FICA guy is and how come he’s taking so much of my money.”
— Former New York Rangers forward Nick Kypreos, prepping for the team’s White House Stanley Cup ceremony

“I went home and told my wife Helen, who’s had four kids, ‘I’ve had a heckuva lot more trouble with labor than you.’”
— Then-Atlanta Braves President Stan Kasten, on having to deal with labor issues in multiple sports

“Somehow, they will try to blame me for this.”
— Oakland Raiders owner Al Davis, on the Cowboys circumventing the league and signing a sponsorship deal with Pepsi

“Plugging products would just screw up a good day off.”
— Then-Atlanta Braves pitcher Greg Maddux, on why he generally eschews endorsements

“Fifteen to 20 years ago, I was wandering around Arkansas, Bill Clinton was wandering around Arkansas. Who would have thought that one would go on to power and prestige and fame and the other one end up the president of the United States.”
— Cowboys owner Jerry Jones

“But, Dad, you don’t know anything about soccer.”
— Then-MLS Commissioner Doug Logan, on his son’s response when told of his father’s new job

1996

“Lord, what have we started?”
— Keith Olbermann, after Texas Tech’s Darvin Ham smashed a backboard during a game and said, “Oh, man! I hope I get an ESPY”

“The last time we had people from out of town running through Atlanta with a torch, it really didn’t go over all that well.”
— Atlanta comic Tom Wilson, comparing the 1996 Olympic Games to Gen. Sherman’s campaign in the Civil War

“We will double our money, and you can quote me on that.”
— Raiders owner Al Davis, on the NFL’s new TV contract for the ’98 season. Davis was correct in his prediction as some of the deals more than doubled in value.

“You bet your ass. Same deal.”
— Nike Chair and CEO Phil Knight, on whether Tiger Woods has the same charisma and flair as Michael Jordan

1997

“All you guys at CNN/SI are doing a great job.”
— “Arli$$’” actor Robert Wuhl, to ESPN’s Chris Myers at the ESPYs

“Make me look good, OK?”
— Baltimore Ravens owner Art Modell, to the Akron Beacon Journal’s David Adams at the end of an interview. Modell in 1995 announced that the Browns were relocating to Baltimore, and was reviled in Ohio.

“It’s more than a faux pas, I mean, he tried to kill the man.”
— ABC’s Charles Gibson, to then-NBPA Executive Director Billy Hunter, after Hunter called Latrell Sprewell’s attack on P.J. Carlesimo a “faux pas”

1998

“I don’t like MTV. Our league is going MTV and that’s what’s wrong with it.”
— Former Boston Celtics great and then-coach of the Indiana Pacers Larry Bird

“Now he knows how we feel when we buy one of his fights on pay-per-view.”
— NBC’s Jay Leno, after Don King was robbed in Mexico

“I’ve got to be the only three-time MVP who has got to buy his own shoes.”
— Then-San Francisco Giants LF Barry Bonds, on not having a shoe contract following a dispute with Nike

“I was in Vietnam. And the big payroll doesn’t always win.”
— Sandy Alderson, former Oakland A’s president and GM and then-MLB executive VP of baseball operations, on whether the A’s could compete against clubs with higher payrolls

“I’d say there’s a chance the Raiders could come back to L.A. About the same chance of me getting pregnant.”
— NFL attorney Frank Rothman, on the team’s desire to break its lease in Oakland and move back to L.A.

“We’ll make money. This is a marketing machine.”
— Then-ESPN CEO Steve Bornstein, on Disney’s five-year, $600 million TV deal with the NHL. ESPN did not make money on the deal, and ESPN would pay $60 million the following season for a reduced slate of games, down 44 percent from the previous deal’s average rights fee.

“I think the game itself is a lot bigger than Michael Jordan.”
— Michael Jordan, announcing his retirement. In 2001, Jordan returned to the NBA to play for the Washington Wizards for two seasons.

“Let us hope they put a lot more thought into this union than the name.”
— New York Post columnist Joel Sherman, on YankeeNets

“I scored, my team won and I was really hot. What the heck. For the rest of my life I’ll probably be remembered as the chick who ripped her shirt off. That’s fine.”
— Brandi Chastain, who is still remembered for the celebration of her 1999 World Cup-clinching penalty kick

“It’s more important what you get than what you pay.”
— Then-ESPN/ABC Sports President George Bodenheimer, on ESPN paying $800 million for six years of MLB rights

2000

“Everybody wants to know what I’m on. What am I on? I’m on my bike six hours a day, busting my ass.”
— Lance Armstrong, in a voice-over for a Nike TV spot, in which he responded to questions about using performance-enhancing drugs. In 2012, Armstrong was banned from competitive cycling for life by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency and stripped of his seven Tour de France titles.

“Here I am, rejected three times. The exercise of buying an NFL team is good for one’s humility. You find things wrong about you that you never knew existed.”
— Charles Dolan, Cablevision founder and chairman and failed Washington Redskins, Cleveland Browns and New York Jets bidder

“His hair looks like a million bucks when he leaves here. We clean up his neck, his schnozz, his eyebrows, and he’s ready to go. That’s what I don’t understand. When he’s on TV, he looks awful.”
— MLB Commissioner Bud Selig’s longtime barber, Sal LoCoCo

“I didn’t want a massive gaffe that Rudy Martzke would jump out of his couch in his undies and start pointing at the screen.”
— Dennis Miller, on what he was worried about during his “Monday Night Football” debut. His stint on “MNF” lasted two seasons.

“A meteor will splash into the middle of the Hudson before a stadium is built on the West Side of Manhattan.”
— John Samerjan, New Jersey Sports & Exposition Authority vice president of public affairs and communications, on plans being floated to build a stadium on the West Side of Manhattan for the Jets. Years later, there was no meteor landing in the Hudson and no stadium under construction on the West Side.

2001

“Despite this piece, we’d even consider talking to your parent company.”
— NBA Commissioner David Stern, on the NBA’s next TV rights contract, during a contentious interview with ESPN’s Bob Ley. As it turned out, Ley’s interview did not prevent the league from partnering with ABC/ESPN.

“We’ve been to 215 games. We’ve seen 41 wins. We’ve spent $80,000. Sorry if we’ve disappointed you. Ric and June.”
— A sign held at a Vancouver Grizzlies game at GM Place by two fans days after the NBA gave the franchise approval to explore relocation. The team moved to Memphis for the ’01-02 season.

“Great hype, wasn’t it?”
— Then-NBC Sports Chair Dick Ebersol, to Don Imus, the day after it was announced the XFL would fold

“We want to show that Utah is more than Karl Malone, beautiful mountains and some guy with five wives and 26 kids.”
— NBC’s Bob Costas, at a rally in Salt Lake City, on the network’s plans for the 2002 Winter Olympics coverage

2002

“I would not be surprised if in the next couple of months, that you will be reading about other networks’ sports organizations, and losses beyond $1 billion. We couldn’t be the only ones.”
— Then-Fox Sports President Ed Goren, on News Corp.’s $90 million write-down of its sports rights deals

“That’s 3,780 Canadian.”
— Then-ESPN analyst Peter Gammons, on announced attendance of 3,780 for a Colorado Rockies-Montreal Expos game, which was estimated by Karl Ravech at 2,000

“If y’all hadn’t wasted all that money on the XFL, y’all would still have basketball.”
— TNT’s Charles Barkley, on NBC airing its final NBA telecast after holding rights for 12 seasons

“Trying to put a new dress on an old hooker is not the way I want to go dancing.”
— Ravens owner Art Modell, on the NFL possibly returning to the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum

2003

“Will I be ‘allowed’ on the sidelines? Yes. It’s my sideline.”
— Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, when asked if hiring Bill Parcells would change his practice of watching games from the sidelines.

“I’m pouring this into an NCAA-approved cup. If you have any NCAA-approved ice, I would appreciate that.”
— Then-Kansas coach Roy Williams, after not being allowed to enter a press conference with a soda bottle that was not an NCAA sponsor

“You shouldn’t believe what you read in USA Today, particularly if it’s in Rudy Martzke’s column.”
— NBA Commissioner David Stern, on reports that NBA playoff ratings were down for the ’02-03 season. In fact, ABC’s first-year numbers were lower than NBC’s, but cable ratings were higher.

“Our culture has everything to do with our success, but it is by no means only my doing. Nike is young and irreverent, and I am neither.”
— Nike Chairman and CEO Phil Knight

2004

“It’s not that different marketing ‘Edge shaving gel’ than it is marketing Nike products.”
— Former S.C. Johnson President and CEO William Perez, on succeeding Phil Knight as president and CEO of Nike. Perez resigned from Nike after fewer than 13 months on the job.

“I went to college with him. I don’t remember him as being that curious and up to date on all the facts. But at this one, he really did know the facts.”
— Then-NBC Universal Sports & Olympics Chair Dick Ebersol, on his meeting with President Bush to discuss Athens security issues

“I didn’t realize that many people read the New York Times!”
— IRL team owner Roger Penske, expressing surprise at the attention received by his first-person piece about unifying the IRL and Champ Car World Series

“They were so unwatchable that the last game was the most viewed basketball game in the history of ESPN.”
— NBA Commissioner David Stern, when told by Bob Costas that the games in the Indiana Pacers-Detroit Pistons Eastern Conference Finals were unwatchable

“As a broadcaster, I want to do a game; I don’t want to talk about steroids. I don’t care about BALCO.”
— Fox MLB announcer Joe Buck

“Get ESPN to cover it!”
— Then-AFL Soul co-owner Jon Bon Jovi, when asked by ESPN’s Mike Greenberg what the AFL has to do next to market itself

“I would have had Andy Williams.”
— Then-NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue, to the House Energy and Commerce subcommittee on telecommunications and the Internet regarding the content of the Super Bowl halftime show

“It’s a function of us getting our head out of our ass.”
— Then-Toronto Blue Jays Senior VP/Communications Rob Godfrey, on the team lowering ticket prices amid plummeting attendance figures

“Let the women play in more feminine clothes like they do in volleyball. They could, for example, have tighter shorts.”
— FIFA President Sepp Blatter, on what female soccer players could do to increase the popularity of the game

“If we don’t address it, you should kill us.”
— Then-Big East Commissioner and BCS Coordinator Mike Tranghese, on the imperfections in the BCS system

2005

“Why aren’t people screaming at Tagliabue the way they scream at Selig?”
— ESPN’s Tony Kornheiser, on reports of steroid use in the NFL

“They were horrified at the thought that someone might have — God forbid — a tailgate barbecue on the streets of their precious Manhattan.”
— Then-Jets President Jay Cross, blaming The New York Times for the failure of the West Side stadium

“When football does something, they are considered smart marketers.”
— MLB Commissioner Bud Selig, on criticism the league has received for having the All-Star Game determine home-field advantage for the World Series

“ESPN, in the last few years, didn’t do a good job for hockey, and quite frankly, I’m glad they are gone.”
— Flyers Chairman Ed Snider, on ESPN opting out of its TV rights deal with the NHL

“The last time I checked, OLN was a hunting, fishing and camping network with some cycling and boats thrown in.”
— Mark Shapiro, then-ESPN executive VP of programming and production, on Comcast’s interest in recasting OLN as a national competitor to ESPN

“We may not be providing content for NBC or ABC in 10 years; we might be providing content for Google and Yahoo.”
— Former IMG Vice Chairman Bob Kain, on the company considering a push into new media

2006

“The entertainment this year is going to be Aretha Franklin, Aaron Neville, Stevie Wonder and the Rolling Stones — which would be a huge lineup if this was 1978.”
— NBC’s Jay Leno, on Super Bowl XL

“Not that I recommend watching during work hours, but I understand that people do.”
— Then-CBS News and CBS Sports President Sean McManus, on software for live online streaming of NCAA tournament games including a “boss button” that allows viewers to hide the games while at work

“Do you think I survived 40 years in this job by saying no to that answer?”
— Joe Browne, then-NFL executive VP of communications and public affairs, when asked by radio host Chris Russo if he thought Roger Goodell was a good choice as NFL Commissioner

“By the time everybody’s put their spin on it, we’ll be led to believe 8 billion people watch football every week.”
— ESPN/ABC Sports Executive Producer Mike Pearl, on the battle between NBC’s “SNF” and ESPN’s “MNF”

2007

“This is CEO pay. I think it is one of the worst things we have ever done.”
— University of Alabama Trustee Emeritus Garry Neil Drummond, on football coach Nick Saban’s eight-year, $32 million guaranteed contract with the university

“I happen to be low key, down to earth and a regular person, but that’s not the image, I think, that has been bestowed upon me which sometimes I, and my family, find amusing.”
— NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman, when asked what one thing people would be surprised to know about him

“Jan. 11, 2007, will forever be known as the day that Major League Soccer truly arrived on the world stage.”
— SI’s Grant Wahl, on the Los Angeles Galaxy signing David Beckham

“I wouldn’t have invested a damn dime if I thought it would be this kind of struggle.”
— Charlotte Bobcats investor Felix Sabates

“David Stern is the NBA. … There’s a lot of things he’s just amazing at, he’s great at, and then there’s certain areas where I think he sucks.
… I’m sure he feels the same way about me.”
— Mavericks owner Mark Cuban

“If I was commissioner? Would I be there? That’s my duty. ”
— Then-Giants LF Barry Bonds, when asked if he would attend the breaking of the all-time home-run record if he was MLB commissioner

“Anyone who thinks we’re in a real partnership here, well, I don’t know what they’ve been smoking.”
— Then-prospective NHLPA Executive Director Paul Kelly, on the players’ relationship with the NHL. Kelly was hired by the NHLPA in late October 2007 and fired in August 2009.

“You would not rename the White House and you would not rename Grant’s Tomb or the Grand Canyon. We will not rename Yankee Stadium.”
— Yankees COO Lonn Trost, on not selling naming rights to the new Yankee Stadium.

“Let’s be frank, this is not the No. 1 issue for the American people.”
— U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush (D-Ill.), on the use of performance-enhancing drugs in sports

“My bad.”
— Then-play-by-play announcer for NFL Network Bryant Gumbel, after calling a field goal “good” when it missed short

2008

“For too many, the NFL experience means going to a 12-hour party and getting trashed.”
— HBO’s Bryant Gumbel, on the increased amount of drinking among fans at NFL games

“Trying to beat traffic, I guess.”
— Giants QB Eli Manning, to “Late Show” host David Letterman, on Patriots coach Bill Belichick leaving the field early during Super Bowl XLII

“We’re having a great year, so ESPN decided that what you should do if you’re a magazine is you write an article going into All-Star [weekend] about how terrible things are. Maybe it’s because [the game] was on TNT.”
— NBA Commissioner David Stern, after being asked why he thinks the league continues to have an image issue

“I didn’t understand the game the way I do now. I didn’t understand the agents, the contractual relationship with the salary cap, the importance of the age of players. Now it’s easy for me, second nature.”
— Washington Redskins owner Dan Snyder, on his early years on the job

“The sports agent business has become so corrupt — I would not encourage anyone to try to become an agent right now.”
— NBA agent David Falk

“We don’t need money that badly.”
— Then-Fox Sports President Ed Goren, on the net not pursuing a deal for prime-time MMA content. Three years later, Fox and UFC agreed to a seven-year multimedia right deal worth more than $90 million a year.

“Every third tournament, I’ll say something I shouldn’t have said.”
— NBC’s Johnny Miller, on his recent comments about PGA Tour member Rocco Mediate during the final round of the U.S. Open

“That’s just not part of my day, it’s not part of my night, and I’ll be honest with you, watching ‘The Bachelorette’ is.”
— Fox’s Joe Buck, on not watching much baseball outside of his broadcast duties

“It’s a little smoggy here, but I’m not coughing up a lung or anything like that.”
— U.S. swimmer Ryan Lochte, on reports of the smog and haze in Beijing

“The players had better wake up, grow up and grow closer. The wolves are beginning to stir, and Gene Upshaw, the benevolent shepherd, is gone.”
— New York Times columnist William Rhoden, on the future of the NFLPA after the death of Gene Upshaw

“It makes things a lot more complicated.”
— Golfer Tiger Woods, on why he is not more politically outspoken

“Scott Boras said everything’s fine. He came down from Mars last week and, I guess, he’ll go back up and work on his stats.”
— Then-Giants managing general partner Bill Neukom, at an AP Sports Editors West Regional meeting, on Boras claiming the economy will have little impact on free agent signings

“You’re too nice. Maybe if you were an arrogant ass, you’d get more attention.”
— Chandra Johnson, wife of NASCAR driver Jimmie Johnson, on why he flies under the public’s radar compared to other drivers

“Had we known what we know now, would we have bid for the Olympics? Almost certainly not.”
— London Olympics Minister Tessa Jowell, on the LOCOG budget tripling amid the financial crisis

2009

“I finally said, ‘The heck with it.’ I want to do something to help.”
— Tigers owner Mike Ilitch, on the team’s decision to feature Ford, GM and Chrysler logos in Comerica Park for free during the 2009 season

“We made a huge mistake with hockey — we need to get back on ESPN with the NHL.”
— Then-AEG President and CEO Tim Leiweke, speaking to then-ESPN/ABC Sports President George Bodenheimer during the opening of the net’s L.A. Live production facility

“The NCAA has exploited its ex-players and student athletes, and it’s about time everyone sees that.”
— Former UCLA basketball player Ed O’Bannon, on his motive for filing a lawsuit against the NCAA over the use of his likeness

“I imagine the bidding will be high. And in spite of all the propaganda and everything — I don’t want to call anybody a liar — but no one’s ever made any money out of them.”
— News Corp. Chair and CEO Rupert Murdoch, saying that Fox is unlikely to bid on the ’14 and ’16 Olympics

“They don’t need to have any more congressional reforms. Just get real leaders. You’ve either got people who were hired by search firms or people who don’t care enough to make it their full-time jobs.”
— Then-NBC Sports & Olympics Chairman Dick Ebersol, on the USOC

“We started to tamper with something we shouldn’t have, and I’ll put my hand up and say ‘guilty.’”
— Then-Fox Sports Chairman and CEO David Hill, on the reason behind creating standard starting times for NASCAR Sprint Cup races

“The New York Times are great people, but they own the Boston Red Sox. They haven’t been too happy with our new stadium all year. They really don’t like the fact that it’s been so successful. They’ve been writing a lot of negative stuff.”
— Yankees President Randy Levine, on a New York Times article detailing cracks in the concrete at the new Yankee Stadium

“I don’t think she brings anything, that’s my opinion. If she could show me she can drive a race car, then I’ll be a believer.”
— Earnhardt Ganassi Racing co-owner Felix Sabates, on Danica Patrick running races in NASCAR

“The rumor that I keep a flask at my desk is not true.”
— PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem, commenting on an “SNL” skit in which he was portrayed as drinking in the office due to the Tiger Woods situation

“Spare us the lies about taking ’roids for health reasons. We’re all grownups. You took stuff for the same reason most of us break or bend rules: You thought you could get away with it, and you did. You did because Commissioner Bud, being Bud, was of course asleep at the switch when you suddenly grew Shrek-like necks and bloated biceps. But even Bud is selling absolution these days. … There may be no crying in baseball, but there is forgiveness.”
— HBO’s Bryant Gumbel, addressing Mark McGwire’s apology in an open letter to former MLB players who have admitted to taking PEDs

“Maybe we didn’t have him say the right things at the time. So it’s at least partially our fault.”
— Then-General Motors Vice Chair Bob Lutz, saying the company’s endorsement relationship with Tiger Woods did not result in more sales

“I ask you to find room in your heart to one day believe in me again.”
— Tiger Woods

“It’s a little cold, but that’s why they invented mittens. That’s why they invented hand warmers. The experience would be so amazing.”
— NFL Giants Treasurer Jonathan Tisch, on the team’s joint venture with the Jets to land the 2014 Super Bowl at New Meadowlands (now MetLife) Stadium

“If I knew then what I do now, I never would have done it. I got paid, but it isn’t a good feeling.”
— Reebok founder Paul Fireman, on selling the shoe and apparel company to Adidas in 2006

“Anyone who expects to get into an all-out war with ESPN is, in my mind, likely a fool.”
— Then-NBC Sports & Olympics Chairman Dick Ebersol, on whether there will be a sports network to rival ESPN

“It takes a little bit of time and then you realize, ‘I made a mistake, a big mistake, and several mistakes.’”
— Washington Redskins owner Daniel Snyder, on his tenure with the team

“This very valuable asset has been swindled away from me in an epic swindle. I’m very angry about it.”
— Former EPL club Liverpool co-owner Tom Hicks, on the team being sold to New England Sports Ventures for less than he was seeking

2011

“As he crossed the Rubicon, according to the historian Suetonius, Caesar uttered the famous phrase ‘This is for all the Tostitos.’”
— The National Post’s Bruce Arthur, in a tweet regarding Brent Musburger’s comment prior to Auburn’s BCS Championship-winning field goal

“I don’t know.”
— Los Angeles Dodgers GM Ned Colletti, when asked who is in charge of the team and to whom he reports to during the team’s bankruptcy

“In the history of network TV sports, only his mentor, Roone Arledge, could match Ebersol’s impact and legacy.”
— NBC’s Bob Costas, on Dick Ebersol, two days after Ebersol resigned as chairman of NBC Sports & Olympics

“I had two problems. I had a partner that went bananas, and the second problem is that the economy kicked us in the balls.”
— Former Tampa Bay Lightning co-owner Oren Koules, on his tenure with the club from 2008-10

“When we have disagreements, we just think about the money and we feel better.”
— Then-Stanford AD Bob Bowlsby, on the Pac-12 pooling and sharing media rights among all member schools

“You’re fighting a bully, man. David Stern’s a bully. You can’t really go up against him, man.”
— Nets guard Deron Williams, on the NBA commissioner vetoing the trade that would send then-Hornets guard Chris Paul to the Los Angeles Lakers

“We need them to not just see themselves as people who aggregate media rights. That’s not their job.”
— NCAA President Mark Emmert, saying conferences have a “greater responsibility” in their role and support of college athletics

“Things are bad. It’s like dictators, you know. You know, in America, we really don’t believe in them.”
— Then-Bears cornerback D.J. Moore, on the growing divide between NFL players and Commissioner Roger Goodell

“People talk about how we should treat this like sports. You know, we’re getting an 18 rating some nights. Do you know what rating we would get if this was not under the banner of the Olympics? We’d be lucky to get a 1 rating for some of these sports.”
— Former NBC Sports Group Chairman Dick Ebersol, on the broadcast decisions NBC has made regarding live programming versus tape delay at the Olympics

“The Pro Bowl takes a lot of grief. A lot of fans say, ‘It’s a piece of crap, we don’t want to watch it, who cares?’ Look at the ratings. You think the NBA All-Star Game would take this rating? The NHL, MLB?”
— NBC’s Al Michaels, on one reason the NFL continues to play its all-star game

“I feel we’re going to look back 25 years from now when there are no more ‘Redskins’ … and say, ‘What the hell were we doing naming a team the Redskins!?’”
— ESPN’s Dan Le Batard, on the controversy surrounding the Redskins’ name

“It’s time for the NFL to get serious and decide what they want to do. It doesn’t do any good to sit on the sidelines all the time. Clearly a deal can get done. And by the way, this isn’t a terribly complicated deal to get done.”
— AEG Chairman Phil Anschutz, on trying to get an NFL team to play in Farmers Field

“Professionally he should have been the model for every television play-by-play person. He was living proof that less could be more.”
— Dallas Cowboys radio play-by-play voice Brad Sham, on the late Pat Summerall

“We’re supposed to be good examples for kids, for fans. It’d be one thing if we didn’t have a policy. We’ve had a very tough policy for a long time. If that many guys are still cheating, it’s just very disappointing.”
— Yankees first baseman Mark Teixeira, on the ongoing PED problem in MLB

“Hold out for what? How many of them have time to hold out? That clock is ticking on these guys lives.”
— Retired NFLer D’Marco Farr, on why the former players agreed to a settlement in the concussion lawsuit against the NFL